Keel-blocks



May 2 5, 1965 E. Rt CASAS HEEL-BLOCKS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April 4,1962 @SNN A @M0/VD RWOND CASAS vom May 25, 1965 E. R. 4CASAS 3,184,925

HEEL-BLOCKS Filed April 4, 1962 s sheets-sheet 2 I/V/E/V/Z/lf EDMONDRAYMOND CASAS E. R. cAsAs May 2.5, 1965 REEL-BLOCKS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed April 4, 1962 United States Patent O 3,184,925 KEEL-BLOCKS EdmondRaymond Casas, Marseille, France, assignor to Ateliers Provencaux deReparations Navales et Industrielles, Marseille, France, a corporationof France Filed Apr. 4, 1962, Ser. No. 184,993 Claims priority,application France, Jan. 16, 1962, 884,97 3 8 Claims. (Cl. 61-66) Thisinvention has for its object a line of keel-blocks, or like supportingsystem for a ship in dry dock, or for similar applications.

Lines of keel-blocks resorted to hitherto are arranged so that there areinserted, between a base and planks or like elements supporting theships hull, wedge-shaped bearing members disposed symmetrically oneither side of the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the line ofkeelblocks, the clamping effect being obtained by means of built-injacks. In such known systems the wedges are parts having an outwardlyand downwardly inclined bottom surface and an outwardly and upwardlyinclined top surface, as a result of which two wedges will have a commonsummit and bases directed towards opposite sides. This in turn requiresthat the supporting planks be cut accordingly, i.e. that their lowersurfaces be inclined so that they can lit into the cup formed by theouter and top surfaces of the two wedges. The wedges and the planks arethen tightened against the hull of the ship, using convenient devicesbuilt into the blocks, for example, jacks or the like. v

It will be appreciated that such stocks have serious drawbacks in thatthey require the incorporation and operation of a large number of jacks.Indeed, it is necessary to have at least two jacks available per set oftwo wedges. In addition, the planks must be especially shaped and bemade in one piece (at least in cross-section) so that on dismantling,and when the two wedges are moved away from each other, a plank may movedownwards evenly. In order to loosen the wedges, a force operating fromoutside must be applied, i.e. a pull must be exerted, and this can beparticularly inconvenient in that it becomes necessary to operate on thetwo lateral sides at once with equal force in order to prevent the wholestructure from collapsing.

The line of blocks according to this invention enables these drawbacksto be overcome. It is noteworthy in particular in that it comprises, onthe one hand, a series of substantially parallel rows of verticalbarrels of identical height which form a base and which are disposed atright angles to the longitudinal axis of the line of blocks and rest onthe ground or on a dry dock apron, the barrels of each row, which arebevelled at their tops, being interconnected by an inclined joiningplate, and, on the other hand, a corresponding row of wedge means, eachresting on said inclined joining plate through the medium of a bottomplate which has a matching degree of inclination and being provided atits summit with a top plate which is substantially horizontal when thewedge rests on the row of corresponding barrels, the top plate of eachwedge in turn supporting, through the medium of a plate forming a sole,one of said supporting planks, in such manner that by applying temporarypulling or pushing forces it be possible to engage or disengage saidwedge means in order to respectively clamp or dismantle thecorresponding row in the line of blocks.

In accordance with a further feature of this invention, theIaforementioned inclined plates affixed to the bevelled summits of thebarrels forming the base of a given row, slope in the direction of theline of blocks, while those of the adjoining rows are inclined in theopposite direc- Cil "ice

tion (or vice versa), this disposition being repeated throughout thelength ofthe line of blocks.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, removable means areprovided to render said barrels, wedges and the plates forming planksoles mutually rigid.

The description which follows with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, given by way of example only, will give a clear understandingof how the invention may be carried into practice and will disclosestill further features thereof.

In the drawings filed herewith:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view diagrammatically showing a line ofblocks according to the invention;

FIGURE 1A is a larger-scale detail view of FIGURE l, showing a wedgemeans and a supporting plank resting thereon the clamping stirrups beingomitted;

FIGURE 1B is a detail view similar to FIGURE 1A showing a clampingstirrup in operative position;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation view of an assembly of barrelsconstituting the portion which forms the supporting base of the lineshown in FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a section taken through a horizontal plane along the line 33 in FIGURE 2, showing the base of the assembly in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is .a front elevation view of an element forming a wedge;

FIGURE 4A is a larger-scale view of a detail in FIG- URE 4;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a keying means of assembling together twoadjacent elements of the line of blocks;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken through the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of one of the stirrups used to assemblethe elements of the line of blocks in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 8 is .a perspective view with partial cutaway of one of thestirrups used for dismantling the elements in aline of blocks.

Referring now to FIGURE l, there is diagrammatically shown thereon aline of blocks according to the invention disposed between a ship in drydock, the bottom of which is designated by the reference numeral 10, anda dry dock apron 11. The principal elements constituting the line ofblocks shown in side elevation in FIGURE 1 consist basically ofalignments or rows of supporting barrels 12, wedge-shaped pieces 13 vandplanks 14 in contact with the bottom of the ship. The base assembly 12is shown in front elevation in FIGURE 2 and, in crosssection along ahorizontal plane, in FIGURE 3. In the example illustrated, the base 12consists of four tubular members with vertical axes 15, 16, 17 and 18,adjacent generatrices of which -are interconnected by vertical plates19, 20 and 21 forming spacers. The tubes 15-18, as well as the spacerplates 19-21, are preferably made of steel and assembled together bywelding. The tubes 15 and 16 rest upon the base plate 22' to which theyare welded, and the tubes 17 and 18 rest on a base plate 23 to whichthey are likewise welded. Angles 24 are welded respectively to saidvertical tubes and to the base plates on which said tubes rest, such adisposition contributing to reinforce the structure of an elementalstock, The tubes 15 through 18 are bevelled at their tops, as may beclearly seen from the side elevation view of FIGURE 1 and a at inclinedplate 24 is affixed, by welding for example, to the top of a transverserow of tubes.

The piece forming wedge means, which is generally referred to by the.reference numeral 13, rests. on the inclined plate 25. The said piece 13is shown in front elevation in FIGURE 4 and in sidev elevation, on alarger scale, in FIGURE lA. In the specific example shown in FIGURES 4,1A and 4A, the piece 13 acting as wedge means comprises four tubularmembers 30, 31, 32 and 33. These tubular members are bevelled at theirbases at the same angle as the tubular members through. 18, and theirtops are coplanar. The bases of the members -33 rest upon a plate 34, towhich they are welded: said members 30-33 are spaced -to be locatedsubstantially over those subjacent tubular members of the base 12 whichhave been designated by the reference numeral-s 15-18. It will beappreciated that it will be particularly advantageous to construct themembers 30- 33 from tubes of the same type as those used for members15-18. The said members Sil-33 support a horizontal plate 35 which iswelded to their tops. To the lateral endsfof the plate 34 and beneath itare welded flat irons 36 and 37 the spacing between which issubstantially equal to the length of the upper plate 25 of the basemember 12 and the thickness substantially equal to that of said plate25, whereby the flat members 36 and37 form guideways which facilitatelocation of the wedge 13 on the base 12. To theredge 38 of the upperplate 35 of wedgeft is welded a platte 39 which forms an abutment forthe sole of the plank-sole assembly which Will be describedhereinafter.' (See FIGURES lA and 4A.)

The plank 14 is mounted on a plate forming a sole 40, to which it isfixed by four tabs or lugs 41fwhich are drilled to co-operate withsecuring screws or the like (not shown), the said lugs 41 beingthemselves disposed on longitudinal ilats affixed to the edge of thesole plate and denoted by the reference numeral 42. The sole plate 40 issubstantially longer than the plate 35 upon which it rests, and at itstwo projecting lateral ends are disposed, beneath the plate 40, flats 43which contribute to guiding said plate 4i? on the plate 35. The plank 14proper isk preferably made of some wood which is suitable for sucharuse, examples being azobe wood or poplar, while the sole plates 46 andthe longitudinal flats 42, together with the lugs 41,`are made of steelor weldable iron of the same type asthe other parts rof the blocks towhich reference has been made precedingly'.v

The foregoing description has been given with'reference to one of thesupporting elements in the form of a row of barrels upon which rests aplank, with an iutervening wedge. The line of blocks, as it isillustrated diagrammatically in side elevation in FIGURE l, comprises acertain number of rows identical to that hereinafter described but theoverall disposition of which is preferably in conformance with that ofFIGURE l. In other words, for two adjacent rows of vertical barrels, theorientation of the wedges is different. Thus, designating the rows ofsupports from left to right on FIGURE l by the letters A, B, C, D, etc.,the wedges of rows A and B converge towards the space comprised betweenthese two rows, while the wedges of rows C and D converge towards thespace comprised between rows C and D. It will be appreciated that, withsuch a disposition, the elements in the rows A and B may be tightened bymeans of a jack which is placed between the wedges 13 of rows A Iand Band which. tends .to move said wedges towards one another. This likewiseapplies for tightening the wedges 13 of rows C and D by moving saidwedges 13 in these rows towards one another. It is evident, however,that the'sarne tightening of rows B and C may be Obtained by disposingin thev space comprised betweenk the sameV a jack which is appliedagainst thewedg'es 13 therein and which tends tomove's'aid lwedges awayfrom one another. The loosening operationin the case of rows A and B, orC and D, may be obtained, for instance, by

moving the wedges kin these rows away from one another f CTI 4 and C,adapted to pull the wedges 13 thereof towards one another.

Referring now to FIGURES'S and 6, there is shown thereon, in plan andsection view respectively, a means for providing a keyed joint betweenbase plates 22 (or 23) of two adjoining rows of ibarrels. In addition,this joining means is of simple type. As may be seen from FIGURES 3, 5and 6, there are welded to the corners of said plates 22, parts 45shaped as half-rings and made, for instance, of a plate which is ilexedand welded by its edges to the sole 22 (or 23) of the structure.supporting the barrels 12. It will be sufiicient with such anarrangement to appropriately dispose the plates 22 and.23 of twoadjoining rows opposite each other to permit engagement into the rings45 of the wedge-shaped-'or frusto-conical keys 46. The said'keys 46 areclamped in the ring-s 45, being driveninto the same by having theirwidened extremities 47 struck with a mallet or the like. Such a linkbetween adjoining rows of supports is particularly easy to achieve, andis made possible by virtue of the Vsmall loads which are transmittedbetween adjoining rows as a result of the good sliding qualitiesobtained between the, surfaces of the wedge plates and between those ofthe. plank sole of fthe upper `plate and the base, the sliding actionbeing of the metal-.to-metal type. In effect,

'the keys 46 with the co-operating rings 45 provide a good Ytion forceslinvolved areV considerable, sothat there is very little chance of thewedge slipping between the sole of the plank and the upper plate'of. therow of barrels forming the base. ln order, however, to prevent anyincipient slip, Vmeans are providedto immobilize the top of :thewedgewith respect ltojthe sole of thesupporting plank, and the bottom ofthe wedgewith respect to the inclined plate of the base. inthe exampleshown diagrammatically inFIGURE 1 (and more in detail in operativecondition, in FIGURE 1B), the said means consist of stirrups whichgirdle the transverse Vedges ofthe wedge. plates that are in contactwith theplank Vsoles and the inclined plates of the barrels,respectively. Such stirrups retain the outer edges of the plates andAprevent the wedges yfrom slipping.V The securingstirrups disposed acrossthe wedge and the plank sole, onY the one hand, and across the wedge andthe inclined 'base plate, onl the other, are designated by the referencenumerals 5t) and51 respectively.

In theinfterests of simplication and economy, provision is madeso thatthe'inclined base plate 25, the lower and upper wedge plates 34 and 35,andthe plank sole 4tihave identical thicknesses and widths. As notedprecedingly, ythe guiding flats 36': and 37`disposed crosswise beneaththe wedge plate. 34 and the' guiding flats 43 likewise disposedcrosswise beneath the plank sole 40 have a thickness which is at themost equal to that of the plates 25, 34,135 and .40. The. result of sucha choice V.of thicknessand width for the plates and also of dimensionsfor the guiding ats'rnakesit possible to girdle their edges with astirruplsirnilar tothat illustrated in FIG- URESylB and 7. The stirrupshown thereon consists of a framevof which the width is. slightlygreater; than the sum of the thicknesses ofV the VKplates in contactthat are to be rigidly united and of whichthe length is' slightlygreaterpthan the Ywidth of said plates.- In the example illustrated, thestirrupgconsists` of two rectangularnblocks 52 and 53 on to which arefined e.g. by welding two'str'ips 54 and S5', thereby forming a stirrupin the shape of a frame having the dimensions hereinbetore deiined.

When it is required to dismantle one, or two, wedges in adjoining rows,the corresponding -stirrups Sil and 5l are removed, and there areapplied, to the wedge or wedges involved, by means of a suitablyarranged jack, forces which tend yto pull or push the wedge from thespace comprised between the plank sole and the upper inclined plate ofthe base. To prevent the wedge or Wedges against which are applied theforces exerted by the jack or jacks from tipping over too quickly duringthe dismantling operation, an additional supporting surface may beprovided by utilizing a stirrup which is longer than the stirrups 50 or51. To this end, it will be of advantage to use a stirrup of the `typeshown in FIG- URB 8. A stirrup 6l? such as is illustrated therein takesthe form of a rectangular box of which one side is open. When it isdesired to dismantle a wedge, the marginal edges of the plates incontact are girdled with such a dismantling stirrup 60 to enable theedges of the plates to slide therein. Provision is made in the bottom 6iof the said dismantling stirrup 60 for tapped holes 62 and 63 into whichengage hexagonal-headed nipple screws or the like 64- and 65, whichenable the dismantling stirrups 6@ to be securely screwed to the supportl2, and this is made possible by the fact that the nipples on thesescrews penetrate into tapped holes 66 provided in the plates 25. In thismanner, the wedge is guided as it is disengaged, and accidents whichwould otherwise be possible during the dismantling are avoided.

The line of blocks hereinbefore described offers numerous advantages. itnotably olers the particularity of comprising large empty spaces betweenadjoining rows of supports, into which it is extremely easy to arrangethe wedge operating jacks. Access to the ships hull is also greatlyfacilitated and inspections or repairs are much easier to carry out thanwith the lines of blocks resorted to heretofore. It will also beappreciated that when repairs or other work is to be carried out on anygiven part of the hull, the keel-blocks can be very easily and rapidlyoperated in that particular area of the hull.

While there has been described and illustrated, the presently preferredembodiment of the line of blocks according to the invention, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that many modiiica-tions orsubstitutions of parts may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention. By way of example, the same principles could be appliedto construct lines of keel-blocks wherein the rows of elements wouldcomprise a number of barrels other than four; similarly, the shape ofthese barrels and the links between their base plates could diter fromthose described hereinabove.

What I claim is:

l. A line of keel-blocks adapted to bear plank-forming supportingelements for a ship, said line of blocks comprising, a series ofsubstantially parallel rows of identical vertical barrels havingbevelled tops and horizontal bases, each row comprising an inclinedjoining plate interconnecting said tops and a horizontal base plateinterconnecting said bases, said parallel rows being disposed at rightangles to the longitudinal axis of the line of blocks and resting on theground by means of said base plates, two adjacent rows having their topjoining plates inclined in opposite directions, in symmetricalrelationship with respect to a vertical center plane located between and65 extending parallel to said two adjacent rows, and a series ofparallel rows of wedge means, each row comprising identical verticalbarrel means and having horizontal tops and inclined bottoms, an upperplate connecting said horizontal tops and a lower plate connecting saidinclined bottoms, said lower plate having the same inclination as Isaidinclined top joining plate and being mounted in sliding engagementthereupon, each of said plankforming supporting elements resting on eachof said upper plates, jacking means being provided to apply pulling orpushing forces respectively between two adjacent rows of wedge means inorder to engage or disengage said wedge means between said top joiningplates and said plank-forming supporting elements respectively, andcorresponding rows of wedge means each resting on said inclined joiningplate through the medium of a bottom plate which has a matching 4degreeof inclination and being provided at its summit with a top plate whichis substantially horizontal when the wedge rests on the row ofcorresponding barrels, the top plate of each wedge in turn supportingplanks, in such a manner that by applying temporary pulling or pushingforces it be possible to engage or disengage said wedge means in orderto respectively clamp or dismantle the corresponding row in the line ofblocks.

2. A line of blocks as claimed in claim l wherein said barrels consistof tubular elements 4which are joined -together transversely bysubstantially vertical plates which form spacers.

3. A line of blocks as claimed in claim l wherein reinorcing angles areprovided at the lower part of said barrels and are lixed to said barrelsand to said hori- Zontal base plates supporting the same.

4. A line of blocks as claimed in claim l wherein said horizontal baseplates supporting the barrels of adjoining rows are interconnected bymeans of dismountable keyforming means.

5. A line of blocks as claimed in claim l wherein said top joiningplates, said upper and lower plates and a sole plate solid with theplank are substantially of equal length and equal width and formportions projecting laterally beyond each side of the rows constitutingthe line of blocks.

6. A line of blocks as claimed in claim 5 wherein guide-formingslideways are provided on the external lateral edges of at least some ofsaid plates, said slideways cooperating with the corresponding lateraledges of adjacent plate.

7. A line of blocks as claimed in claim 5 wherein stirrups which girdlethe projecting portions or two adjacent plates constitute removablemeans adapted to render the component parts of each row mutuallyinterconnected.

8. A line of blocks as claimed in claim 7 wherein said stirrups consistof frames, the lengths of which are substantially equal to the width ofthe plates to be rendered mutually interconnected and the widths to 'thesum of the thicknesses of said plates.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,639,5l 8/27Langham. 1,950,413 3/34 Maxson et al 61-66 FORETGN PATENTS '703,267 3/41Germany.

EARL I. WITMER, Primary Examiner.

JACOB SHAPIRO, Examiner,

1. A LINE OF KEEL-BLOCKS ADAPTED TO BEAR PLANK-FORMING SUPPORTINGELEMENTS FOR A SHIP, SAID LINE OF BLOCKS COMPRISING, A SERIES OFSUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL ROWS OF IDENTICAL VERTICAL BARRELS HAVINGBEVELLED TOPS AND HORIZONTAL BASES, EACH ROW COMPRISING AN INCLINEDJOINING PLATE INTERCONNECTING SAID TOPS AND A HORIZONTAL BASE PLATEINTERCONNECTING SAID BASES, SAID PARALLEL ROWS BEING DISPOSED AT RIGHTANGLES TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LINE OF BLOCKS AND RESTING ON THEGROUND BY MEANS OF SAID BASE PLATES, TWO ADJACENT ROWS HAVING THEIR TOPJOINING PLATES INCLINED IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, IN SYMMETRICALRELATIONSHIP WITH RESPECT TO A VERTICAL CENTER PLANE LOCATED BETWEEN ANDEXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID TWO ADJACENT ROWS, AND A SERIES OF PARALLELROWS OF WEDGE MEANS, EACH ROW COMPRISING IDENTICAL VERTICAL BARREL MEANSAND HAVING HORIZONTAL TOPS AND INCLINED BOTTOMS, AN UPPER PLATECONNECTING SAID HORIZONTAL TOPS AND A LOWER PLATE CONNECTING SAIDINCLINED BOTTOMS, SAID LOWER PLATE HAVING THE SAME INCLINATION AS SAIDINCLINED TOP JOINING PLATE AND BEING MOUNTED IN SLIDING ENGGEMENTTHEREUPON, EACH OF SAID PLANKFORMING SUPPORTING ELEMENTS RESTING ON EACHOF SAID UPPER PLATES, JACKING MEANS BEING PROVIDED TO APPLY PULLING ORPUSHING FORCES RESPECTIVELY BETWEEN TWO ADJACENT ROWS OF WEDGE MEANS INORDER TO ENGAGE OR DISENGAGE SAID WEDGE MEANS BETWEEN SAID TOP JOININGPLATES AND SAID PLANK-FORMING SUPPORTING ELEMENTS RESPECTIVELY, ANDCORRESPONDING ROWS OF WEDGE MEANS EACH RESTING ON SAID INCLINED JOININGPLATE THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF A BOTTOM PLATE WHICH HAS A MATCHING DEGREEOF INCLINATION AND BEING PROVIDED AT ITS SUMMIT WITH A TOP PLATE WHICHIS SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL WHEN THE WEDGE RESTS ON THE ROW OFCORRESPONDING BARRELS, THE TOP PLATE OF EACH WEDGE IN TURN SUPPORTINGPLANKS, IN SUCH A MANNER THAT BY APPLYING TEMPORARY PULLING OR PUSHINGFORCES IT BE POSSIBLE TO ENGAGE OR DISENGAGE SAID WEDGE MEANS IN ORDERTO RESPECTIVELY CLAMP OR DISMANTLE THE CORRESPONDING ROW IN THE LINE OFBLOCKS.